Grey zone
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding the grey zone: precision energetic phenotyping of hearts with non-ischaemic mild left ventricular systolic dysfunction without heart failure
IRAS ID
270632
Contact name
Oliver Rider
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford / Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
We do not know enough about how to diagnose and treat people who are found to have subtle reductions in heart pumping function on heart scans. Some of these people will remain stable and never develop symptoms, whilst others will develop worsening heart pumping function (leading to a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy or heart failure). We currently have no good tests to identify which people with subtly reduced heart function are and are not at risk of developing heart failure. This means that many undergo frequent clinic appointments and heart scans (which is inconvenient and unnecessary for those not at risk of developing heart failure) whilst we also have no good treatment options to prevent deterioration in those who are truly at risk. We therefore need a better test for this ‘grey zone’ group to help identify who can be reassured and who can be closely monitored and/or enrolled into future studies to identify new treatments that could prevent deterioration. We propose to carefully study heart energy supply using special MRI scans to detect the earliest signs of heart cell damage. We recently discovered that by making the heart beat faster with medications, we are now able to unmask subtle changes in heart energy supply using these scans. This could lead to better tests for patients and new ways to prevent heart failure.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1598
Date of REC Opinion
12 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion